KALISPELL — The Flathead County Board of Adjustments agreed to settle with the Montana Department of Corrections (DOC) with three yes votes and one abstention, bringing them one step closer to opening the first prerelease center in Flathead County.
Following a lengthy discussion during Tuesday night’s board of adjustment meeting, board members voted to settle with the DOC after a lawsuit was filed over their initial rejection in October.
The settlement with the DOC included 14 conditions that could have been rescinded if the board had chosen to reject the agreement and pursue legal action.
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This possibility was one of the reasons why the board voted in favor of the settlement.
Board member Cal Dyck shared his perspective during the meeting.
“Firstly, myself, I would rather come up with a settlement at this time before we go into the courts for one main reason, and that is that the conditions that we set on this property will stay there,” Dyck said. “I do not want to… this is the one thing we can do for the community, is that we can say, okay, these are your 14 conditions they're going to stay with that property.”
Watch related coverage: Flathead County Board of Adjustment rejects proposed prerelease center
The DOC can now begin the process of opening the prerelease center following the settlement.
Montana Department of Correction Rehabilitations and Programs chief Scott Eychner says there is still a lot of work to be done.
“It's two hurdles we gotta do, we gotta finalize the settlement agreement that happened tonight, then we have to close on the property because we don't own anything yet,” Eychner said. “But assuming that both those things go, and I expect that they would, we're looking at probably a six-month ramp up to be able to open the facility to have first, the first residents.”
MTN will continue to follow this story as it develops.
